


Mask Maker

by orphan_account



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Drabble, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:35:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3796882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Uta drabble. Uta reflects on the nature of ghouls and masks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mask Maker

Uta sat at the counter of his shop. It was empty. That wasn’t unusual. His clientèle was more of a nocturnal sort. As he watched the people outside pass by without a second glance, he drummed his fingers absent-mindedly on the counter-top. The rhythmic tapping sound was the only noise in the empty shop. He thought about the people as they passed, men, women and children. All of them so boring, tragically boring. He thought of birth,life,death. School and work and family. How dreadfully dull. A schoolgirl stopped for a moment to tie her shoe. Utah sat up a little. He could see every movement of her face,fixed in concentration, He could smell the strawberry of her shampoo and under that the warm ever present scent of human flesh. She was so close he could almost taste it. He licked his lips a little and smiled his practised smile;warm and friendly with nothing underneath. The mask-maker’s perfect mask. He wondered if she’d come into his store. It was a small store. Masks hung on the walls or in display cases. It was a spartan store-front. Uta had no real need to advertise or attract. Those who needed his masks found him. Utah continued watching the girl. She finished tying her shoe and moved on. He frowned in disappointment. 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. He worked on the masks that interested him and repaired those that needed it. There were many that needed it. His customers could be so careless. He thought of Touka. Her cute rabbit mask. Large ears and teeth, but with beady black eyes that seem to follow you around the room. She’d been here many times. Her mask was always getting scratched, or nicked. He always sanded it carefully, polished it, but gradually the mask began to break. They all did in the end. Masks were like that. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it pristinely white. Despite his best efforts, you could see the under-layer of red flecks, if you held it in the right light.

He smiled and continued to work on a new mask. Every pass of the blade taking more of the material and revealing the mask underneath. It was mostly done. Great insectoid eyes stared back at him from the table. Its mouth contorted into a gruesome scream. He wasn’t sure if it was predator or prey, but he wasn’t pleased with it. He never was. Masks were meant to be another face. Another way to see and be seen. A natural extension of oneself. That’s why he liked animal masks. Birds, Beasts, even little fluffy rabbits. A clear display of a Ghoul’s nature and ferocity. But, this one too was wrong. Its features too static, the overall shape too clear and the workmanship too obvious. He longed to make a mask like humans wore. Fluid and dynamic and completely invisible.

He thought of his most recent customer. He was a special one. His mask had been too. An all leather face mask with a single visible eye and a manic gnashing grin. He laughed to himself.   
“Such a vicious mask for such a timid boy” He thought. Every mask was bespoke. Uta crafted each one with love and care. The mask was a perfect fit for the wearer’s face and its appearance reflected those who wore them. 

He looked over to his own mask, hanging above his workbench. It had been one of his first. It was crude compared to his newest works. A simple white mask, carelessly scored and two small X’s for eyes. It said nothing, and revealed nothing. It was he thought “The closest he’d come to a human mask”. His mask and his nickname “No-face” had passed into infamy. The CCG respected and feared it as the face of a brutal sadist. Uta laughed again. It wasn’t that he had no face,but that he had many faces. He unlocked the drawer of his desk and looked over his other mask. Its four eyes and long beak gave it a strange and alien appearance. He ran his hands carefully over it and wandered how Eyepatch was doing. It was a lot of work putting this show on, He hoped he wasn’t disappointed. He hated being disappointed and more than being disappointed. He hated being bored. He sanded the rough edges of his other mask.   
“It’ll be time for this soon” he thought and replaced it carefully into the drawer.


End file.
